It’s going to be a busy one today, and it will begin with a blood test at the University Medical Practice.

Dave has done an amazing job with our hanging baskets this year.

Greetings from Preston Town Hall, from the new City Bellman.

I’ve performed my first official cry as the new Town Crier and Bellman of the City of Preston. It was lovely to be joined at the Wallace and Gromit bench by John and Gina, who I used to work with in the wild world of Lancashire radio.

I’m heading to the local Spar in Maybole in a thoroughly overdressed fashion. I guess you need to keep up appearances.

The ruins of Crossraguel Abbey, near Maybole in Ayrshire, viewed from the intact four-storey Abbot’s Tower House. A special shout-out to Paul from Historic Scotland for his awesome beard and for being a thoroughly nice guy.

I finally got the Chameleon Circuit in my TARDIS working. Did you know that police boxes in Glasgow were painted red, in contrast to the blue used elsewhere in the UK?

I’ve finally got to see the mural of St Mungo in Glasgow. The image depicts the city’s patron saint in modern clothing as a homeless man holding a robin, in a reference to one of his four legendary miracles.

The Glasgow Necropolis is an astonishing Victorian cemetery on a hill near St Mungo's Cathedral in the city. Fifty thousand people are buried here in what’s been described as a city of the dead.

We always love visiting the Danny DeVito-themed Poppin’ Pizza in Irvine for their amazing chicken burgers.

We’re back in Dundee, which is one of my favourite cities. The Desperate Dan statue on the High Street celebrates Dundee’s heritage as the home of DC Thomson, the creators of the Dandy comic, where Dan first appeared in 1937.

We’ve been hanging out with East Kilbride Women’s Rugby at Glasgow Pride. The club is nicknamed the Queen Bees, hence the rather adorable mascot.

The very essence of the spirit of Scotland in one image.

It’s good to get in some kilt time in the sunshine at Culzean Castle on the Ayrshire coast. The house served as the exterior location for Lord Summerisle’s mansion in the 1973 cult horror classic “The Wicker Man”.

The harbour and town at beautiful Portpatrick, on the Rhins of Galloway peninsula in Dumfries and Galloway, on the far south-west coast of Scotland. Turn around and you can see the coast of Northern Ireland, which has me salivating at the thought of Tayto crisps and Club Rock Shandy.

We’re in Thurso for our epic return journey from Scotland’s northernmost railway station to its southernmost, at Stranraer. We have changes at Inverness, Perth, Glasgow, and Kilmarnock. It should take almost exactly twelve hours-if it all goes to plan.

The MV Hamnavoe docked in Stromness Harbour on the Orkney Islands, ready to take us across the Pentland Firth to Scrabster on the Scottish mainland. I’ve always loved NorthLink Ferries’ brand identity, featuring “Magnus the Viking” with his outstretched hand.

The interior of St Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands is a stunning example of Romanesque architecture. It’s the UK’s most northerly cathedral and was founded in 1137 by the Viking Earl Rognvald in honor of his uncle, Saint Magnus.

The monument to the great 19th-century Arctic explorer Dr John Rae at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands. The physician mapped extensive stretches of the Arctic coastline and discovered the final navigable link in the Northwest Passage. He’s buried in the cathedral’s graveyard.

Hello from Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. Thank you to Cameron Stout for showing us around BBC Radio Orkney. You might remember Cameron as the winner of Big Brother back in 2003.

We made it all the way to Thurso, and what better way to celebrate than by visiting what is reputedly the northernmost mainland fish and chip shop in the United Kingdom?

It’s our big Scottish railway adventure today. We’re travelling from the most southerly station in the country at Stranraer to the most northerly at Thurso. We have changes at Ayr, Glasgow and Inverness and with any luck it should take around 11 hours.

It’s always good to be back reading the national news at BBC Radio 5 Live.

The iconic Carnforth Station clock, which was made famous by the 1945 film Brief Encounter, has returned to its home on the station platform in Lancashire following an extensive restoration. It was manufactured in 1895 by Joyce & Co. of Whitchurch in Shropshire.

A small win for me today. I’m no longer morbidly obese as my BMI has gone down from 54.8 to 29.8. I’m now just merely overweight. I’m down from 25 stone (350 pounds) to 13 stone 8 pounds (190 pounds). I won’t be having cake to celebrate, as there’s still more work to be done.

20 years ago today, we got married on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. We walked through this door in our kilts to the sound of bagpipes and the smiling faces of our family and friends. The old registry office is now the luxurious Virgin Hotels Edinburgh. It’s really good to be back in the city.